


Promise

by jisukki



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: (future)producer!hongjoong, College AU, Fluff, M/M, bffs hwa san & yunho, dancer!seonghwa, im not used to writing ateez, implied woosang, implied yungi, lots of coffee intake, orange haired joong!!, probably very ooc sorry, seonghwa needs help and hongjoong is the man for the job, slowburn-ish if you squint really hard, two sentences of seongsang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:54:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22042141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisukki/pseuds/jisukki
Summary: After getting his heart broken, Seonghwa vowed to not fall in love again until he was out of college. But then Hongjoong came into his life, and his promise had long been broken before he had noticed it.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 5
Kudos: 96





	Promise

Yeosang used to put the stars in Seonghwa's sky. One-sidedly, of course, since Seonghwa never came clean about his crush on him. Yet, when he found out through San that Yeosang liked Wooyoung — San's best friend —, he was devastated. Seonghwa genuinely thought his feelings, although unspoken, were reciprocated and maybe one day the two could live out the romance Seonghwa had envisioned.

But life had other plans, and Seonghwa promised himself to not fall for anyone again, at least not until he had finished college, to just focus on himself and his goals without having to worry about silly feelings that most likely wouldn't be reciprocated. However, thanks to one of his classes and subsequently to Yunho, he found himself breaking his own promise, despite unknowingly.

Being a dancing major wasn't easy, but it was what Seonghwa loved doing. Nevertheless, the odd projects his professors assigned him often made him ponder dropping out and abandoning everything to go live in a cottage in the woods and just dance with the animals.  
This time around, he had to not only choreograph a routine but on top of that he had to make the music track as well. Hearing the assignment had made him want to bash his head — or the professor's, either would have done, really — against a wall, and all he had wondered was " _How the fuck am I supposed to make a song?_ "

Not only did the assignment make him despair, but so did its deadline. " _A month and a half, a teensy month and a half!_ ", he had whispered-yelled as he ranted to San and Yunho in the cafe they used to hang out in after classes. His rant went on, San typing away on his laptop and Yunho on his phone while sipping on his drink. Once he had finished, Yunho looked at him over his phone and raised an eyebrow, a smug look plastered on his face.

"You know, I think I know someone who could help," Yunho said, grinning as he noticed the sudden hopeful glimmer in Seonghwa's eyes. "Well, Mingi does."

Mingi. Yunho's so called other best friend, but Seonghwa and San both knew Yunho had a massive crush on him, which was evidently reciprocated. _Lucky Yunho_ , Seonghwa had thought. Seonghwa didn't want to talk about it at that moment, though, so he just urged Yunho on.

"His best friend, Hongjoong. He's aiming to become a producer, he knows all about music composition and whatnot. He even has a soundcloud." He couldn't help the small chuckle that left his mouth after the last sentence.

San looked away from his laptop and at Yunho, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "Doesn't Mingi have a soundcloud account as well?"

Yunho waved his hand at him, signaling him to turn back to his paper. "That's besides the point right now." He stopped talking to take another sip. "Anyway, want me to talk to Mingi about it?"

"Please, I'm dying," Seonghwa replied, resting his forehead against the cold tabletop.

×××

It was one in the morning when Seonghwa got a text, the light from his phone screen illuminating his entire bedroom. He grabbed his phone, although suspicious. It was probably Yunho just drunk sobbing over Mingi and Seonghwa did not feel up to comforting a fool in love at one in the morning when they both should be asleep.

To his surprise, it was not Yunho, or anyone he knew, for that matter.

The text read: _Hey, Mingi told me you needed help with a song?_

The dots connected in his head and he assumed it was Mingi's best friend; however, he couldn't remember what Yunho had said his name was. Hongseok? Hoonjong?

Seconds later, another text came in: _Oh, it's Hongjoong by the way._

Hongjoong, that was it. Seonghwa saved his number and replied. They agreed to meet after lunch at the cafe Seonghwa had been with Yunho and San earlier that day.

×××

To be completely honest, Seonghwa had no idea what Hongjoong looked like, so he just sat and waited, hoping for the best. Some time afterwards, a small man with bright orange hair and a laptop tucked between his arm and torso walked in, glancing around the cafe. Most people were accompanied, so Hongjoong's eyes lingered on Seonghwa for longer and he texted him, asking if it was him. Seonghwa didn't reply to the message, instead calling him over.

Hongjoong wore an orange t-shirt that matched his hair and dangly earrings. Seonghwa found the orange hair and orange t-shirt a bit too much on the eyes but when Hongjoong opened his laptop, the silver helped distract him. The black haired male explained everything to him, Hongjoong nodding as he went on and typing away some things on his laptop.

"So, how much for you to help me?" Seonghwa asked once he was finished with his explanation.

Hongjoong tilted his head to the side a bit. "Huh?"

"I mean, you're not gonna help me for free, obviously," Seonghwa stated as a matter of fact.

Hongjoong shook his head. "No, I don't want anything. This will be quick and easy, and I like doing it, I wouldn't think of asking for money in return."

Seonghwa raised an eyebrow, still sceptical, but in the end he just sighed out of relief. Getting things for free while being a broke college student was always the best feeling in the world.

"Well, at least let me buy you coffee or something." Hongjoong agreed to it and they started brainstorming ideas for both the track and a matching choreography.

×××

Seonghwa and Hongjoong kept in touch, meeting here and there so they could interchange ideas and Seonghwa could start coming up with a suiting choreography.

Nearly a month after they had began working together, Hongjoong asked Seonghwa to meet up.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Seonghwa asked as he sat down in front of Hongjoong.

With a grin, the orange haired male turned his laptop around so it was facing the other. "It's finished! I hope you like it."

Seonghwa's mouth hung agape. "Really? I thought it'd take you longer, wow. Thank you so much, Joong."

Hongjoong smiled even wider at the nickname. "I may or may not have stayed up last night because I really wanted to give it to you as soon as possible," he admitted as he passed his headphones to Seonghwa, who attentively listened to Hongjoong's work, nodding along.

"I love it. Again, thank you, Hongjoong. I'll never be able to repay you," Seonghwa said, returning the headphones.

"Well, actually... I was thinking there was something you could do for me," Hongjoong suggested, grabbing his laptop and turning it back to himself.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Could you let me watch you practice?" Hongjoong looked like he was giving Seonghwa 'puppy eyes'. "I'd love to witness your creative process, and it's only fair since you got to see parts of mine."

At first, Seonghwa was taken aback, since it was the last thing he'd imagined Hongjoong would ask of him. Then, he chuckled to himself, nodding, and gave the older a gentle smile. "Sounds more than fair to me. I'll let you know when I'll start and where you can meet me, okay?"

×××

While Seonghwa had only witnessed some bits of Hongjoong's creative process — whenever they had met up to discuss ideas —, Hongjoong had seen Seonghwa's in almost its entirety. Seonghwa thought the constant presence of someone else would begin to bother him at some point, but it didn't. In fact, having Hongjoong's company was somewhat comforting and prevented him of staying up dancing until ungodly hours, considering Hongjoong would scold him and drag him home.

"Hey, I brought you coffee and some snacks!" Hongjoong announced one late night as he cheerily made his way in and sat in a corner of the dance studio.

Seonghwa looked at him through one of the mirrors as he finished a move and smiled, thanking him and sitting next to him. Such little things Hongjoong did, like getting him coffee or food, always seemed to warm his heart and make the assignment less of a hassle. They chatted while eating and, once they were done, Seonghwa got back up to continue practicing as Hongjoong watched with admiring eyes.

×××

Once both males entered the room, Seonghwa turned to Hongjoong, a smirk on his face. "I had an idea for today."

Hongjoong furrowed his eyebrows, but he couldn't help a small smile. "Should I be worried?"

Seonghwa shook his head and walked towards the computer and the speakers, turning them on. "How about I teach you some moves?" Seeing Hongjoong's mouth open, he continued. "After all, it's thanks to you that I'm even here in the first place."

Hongjoong couldn't deny he was really fascinated by Seonghwa's moves, so he happily agreed to the taller one's idea.  
Seonghwa went through the choreography once on his own and then invited Hongjoong to join him. Seonghwa patiently guided him through every move and once Hongjoong more or less knew it all on his own, they just started having fun.

However, all good things must come to an end and Hongjoong had a little too much fun, which ended up in him landing his foot wrong and spraining his ankle. He hissed in pain as he sat down on the floor, Seonghwa following right after.

"Joong, you need to be more careful," Seonghwa scolded him, frowning. "Can you walk?"

"I don't know, let me try."

Hongjoong stood up but once he took his first step he had to retreat back to the floor, looking up to Seonghwa with teary eyes.

Seonghwa sighed. "I'll carry you home."

Hongjoong tried to argue with him, telling him he'd just sit in the corner until he felt better, but Seonghwa wouldn't have it. He turned everything off and grabbed both their things before carefully picking up Hongjoong.

"I'm sorry I'm giving you trouble, Hwa," Hongjoong apologised as he wrapped his arms around Seonghwa's neck, although he kept his eyes on the floor.

"Hey, hey, look at me," Hongjoong did as he asked and turned his eyes to his face. "Don't apologise, it's alright. I've sprained my ankles many times too, happens to everyone." He smiled wide at the male in his arms. "At least you have me here to make you feel better."

Hongjoong smiled back. "Yeah, you're right."

Looking at Hongjoong's smiling face in his arms seemed to make something click inside of Seonghwa. In reality, it just made the wheels start turning, wheels that had been placed inside of him probably since they had met. Seonghwa acknowledged it as one thing: breaking the promise he had made to himself. Although it should give him a reality check and help him hold back, Seonghwa thought that if it were for Hongjoong, maybe he was okay with breaking his own promise.

×××

The day he had to present his creation arrived, and Seonghwa invited Hongjoong to go with him. At first, the older one hesitated but, after much insistence on Seonghwa's behalf, he ended up agreeing to it.

When it was finally Seonghwa's turn, Hongjoong gave him a reassuring smile as he prepared the song. Seonghwa began dancing and everyone was enthralled, Hongjoong more so than anyone else. He was thankful he got to take part in creating such beautiful art, but above that he was thankful he got to meet Seonghwa and had the pleasure of watching him perform his art so beautifully.

Hongjoong had watched him practice so many times, he knew the choreography by heart. Or so he thought. At the end, after doing the jump and turn Hongjoong had watched him do so often and then ending it there, Seonghwa hugged himself and turned to Hongjoong's direction, reaching for him with his hand.

Hongjoong, and everyone else in the room, were astounded. However, most of the astonishment was probably due to Seonghwa's beautiful performance, seeing as Hongjoong was the only one among the public that knew the original moves. The new ending stroke a cord inside of him, and he was left wondering if it meant what he thought it did. Applauses broke through but all Hongjoong could do was think.

After the class ended and everyone had begun walking out, Seonghwa approached Hongjoong, running a hand through his dripping black hair and smiling. "So?"

"That was amazing." Hongjoong returned his smile with a wider one. "But, the last part, I never saw that."

Seonghwa chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I came up with it only recently and wanted to show it to you here."

"Why?"

Seonghwa's eyes darted everywhere but Hongjoong. Words failed him and he just wanted to run out the door, hoping Hongjoong would solve it all on his own. "I don't really know how to tell you..."

Hongjoong furrowed his eyebrows and then closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath and opening up his eyes again. "Well, how about I say something else?" Seonghwa raised an eyebrow, but motioned him to go on. Anything to delay his inevitable truth. "Here goes nothing, I guess." He took another deep breath, the anticipation bubbling inside of the male in front of him. "I'm in love with you, Seonghwa."

Seonghwa's mouth hung agape and he genuinely felt like he could fall at Hongjoong's feet. He just couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Y–You, what?"

Hongjoong bit the inside of his cheek and looked away from Seonghwa, suddenly feeling like he towered over him more than usual, which in turn made him feel even more vulnerable than opening up about his feelings had done.

They stood in silence for some time while Seonghwa tried to process his thoughts and form a coherent sentence. "I–I'm in love with you too, that was what the ending was all about. Me, reaching out to you, wanting to hold you."

Hongjoong's eyes shined as he looked back at Seonghwa. "Really?"

Seonghwa nodded, smiling a bit. Hongjoong couldn't hold himself back so he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Seonghwa, hugging him tightly. Although taken aback by the sudden display of affection, Seonghwa smiled wider, hugged Hongjoong back and furrowed his nose in the other's now slightly faded orange hair.

Breaking his promise ended up paying off in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> (This is an Atiny Secret Santa gift (⌒‿⌒)) 
> 
> I haven't written this much (although it really isn't all that much, I'm aware) in a while, so please bear with me, I'm a bit rusty! And if the formatting is weird, I apologise, it's my first time posting anything here ehehe  
> I have also only written a couple ship fics but nevertheless I hope this was enjoyable
> 
> Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!


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